• • Around Town (East) for May 6, 2012 
The Southtown Star (Tinley Park, IL) Atlas Shrugged  | Common Ground Flossmoor will meet 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Flossmoor Village Hall, 2800 Flossmoor Road. Jim Kenney will discuss Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” and her influence on the political right.     Share on Facebook

• Free Events at Littlefield, and a PEN Reading in Carroll Gardens 
A. C. Lee, New York Times The youngsters should probably be cleared out for Sunday’s evening program, a free 7:30 performance of Adam Guthman’s one-man show, “The Conceit of My Pants,” described as something of an extended circular improvisation involving terrifying elements like wormholes, murder, apocalypse and Ayn Rand. It sounds like a laugh to the Miser, at least.     Share on Facebook

• Movie review: Amazing 'Avengers'—Film goes above and beyond comic book fans' expectat 
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Marvel was the countercultural home of misfits like Lee & Kirby. It was a place where Ayn Rand-inspired iconoclasts like Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Spider-Man, had creative freedom. The weirdness and combustibility of the creators and their characters turned tiny Marvel Comics into the industry leader within a decade.     Share on Facebook

• • • The model of an Ayn Rand acolyte 
Steve Benen, The Maddow Blog (MSNBC) Atlas Shrugged  |Capitalism  |Individualism  |Video  | Last week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the right-wing chairman of the House Budget Committee, scoffed at the notion that he’s an acolyte of Ayn Rand. “I reject her philosophy,” Ryan said, adding he prefers Thomas Aquinas’ philosophy. He concluded, “Don’t give me Ayn Rand.” This led me, among others, to note some of Ryan’s previous comments on the infamous author, including the congressman’s famous boast, “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.” But what else has Ryan said about Rand?     Share on Facebook

• • • The trouble with Ayn Rand 
Robert Mentzer, Wausau Daily Herald (WI) Altruism  |Atheism  |Egoism  |Personal life  |Image  | Ayn Rand was a postwar philosophical novelist whose main idea was that altruism is for suckers and selfishness is a virtue. The heroes of her books are geniuses who have nothing but contempt for the uncreative, undifferentiated masses who, when you get right down to it, really are little more than parasites feeding off the elite few who were courageous enough to pursue their own self-interest above all else and achieve great wealth and power. You can see why it is a philosophy that appeals to a lot of teenagers: a) It has a certain mind-blowing “everything you know is wrong” quality to it, b) it justifies doing exactly what you feel like doing no matter what their parents or teachers might say, and c) it allows the reader to feel superior to everyone around him or her, a favorite pastime of teenagers everywhere.     Share on Facebook

• • • Paul Ryan Should Run For President, Spokesman For Ayn Rand Group Says 
Jennifer Bendery, Huffington Post Atheism  |Capitalism  |Individualism  | Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) puzzled some last week when he appeared to try to distance himself from his known love of philosopher Ayn Rand. But his move didn’t sour relations with The Atlas Society, a group that actively promotes Rand’s capitalist vision and one that Ryan spoke to in 2005 about how Rand inspired him to enter public service. In fact, the group’s spokesman doubled down this week and endorsed Ryan for president. “I’d like to see Paul Ryan as president one day,” Edward Hudgins, director of advocacy at The Atlas Society, said Tuesday in an interview with The Huffington Post.     Share on Facebook

• Give & Tech — When Carnot and Atlas shrugged 
L. Suresh, The Hindu (India) Atlas Shrugged  | Reference in title only.     Share on Facebook

• • • Inside the Beltway: Ayn Rand, Part 2 
Jennifer Harper, Washington Times Atlas Shrugged movie  |Atlas Shrugged  |Capitalism  |Individual Rights  | It’s on the way: “Atlas Shrugged Part II” is now filming in Los Angeles, the second installment of an ambitious independent movie project — due for commercial release in October, just as the presidential election looms. A source says some of the film’s background extra roles will be played by persons of note who, uh, get the significance of Ayn Rand’s original 1957 novel, and this determined undertaking.     Share on Facebook

• • • Ayn Rand or Jesus Christ? Conservatives Can’t Have It Both Ways 
Mike Lux, AlterNet Capitalism  |Egoism  |Individualism  | Last week Paul Ryan said that his fondness for the philosophy of Ayn Rand is an “urban legend.” You have to give these wild and crazy Republicans credit for at least one thing: they have cojones the size of the elephants which are the mascots for the party. The urban myth quote came after a career of Ayn Rand idolatry special even for right-wing Republicans: giving the book to his interns, speaking at Ayn Rand tributes, doing videos about her, saying her philosophy inspired him to get involved in politics. This was no youthful fling, but a lifelong love affair -- until last week , apparently.     Share on Facebook

• • • Free Market Revolution by Yaron Brook, Don Watkins 
Kirkus Reviews Ayn Rand Institute  |The Fountainhead  |Capitalism  |Don Watkins  |Egoism  |Yaron Brook  |Image  | Full review available only to subscribers until 4 September 2012.“Capitalism is the system of selfishness--of rational selfishness.” Ayn Rand acolytes Brook [...] and Watkins sing the same old hymn, with a slightly different chorus, to the same old choir. In case you’ve forgotten the Randian message, bundled up here in utterly predictable form, it’s that we all owe each other nothing. Our sole duty is to ourselves, and thus it behooves us to claw and scratch our way through this Darwinian world and amass as much wealth as possible.     Share on Facebook

• Contrarianism of the Ostracized Engineer 
David Benjamin, EBN - The Sanity Clause Vern had never been “cool” in high school. But he attained instant cool when he decided to get a degree in English, among the hippies and tree-huggers up on the hill. Meanwhile, Vern’s classmate, Victor, chose engineering. He grew more and more conservative as his college years progressed. Victor -- like Vern -- didn’t take any political science courses, nor did he pay much heed to politics at all. He didn’t even read Ayn Rand.     Share on Facebook

• Review: “Peter and the Starcatcher” Lands on Broadway 
Robert Kahn, NBC New York “Starcatcher” has broad appeal, though not necessarily for children. Molly and her father, Lord Aster, each on board different ships, communicate via the “Starcatcher amulets” they wear on their necks. At sea, “cell” connections aren’t so good, begetting a tired Verizon joke. [....] Ayn Rand and the Cadillac Escalade make anachronistic appearances in the script.     Share on Facebook

• Actor Morales on Obama: ‘Where’s the Change That Was Promised?’ 
Big Hollywood Atlas Shrugged movie  | Actor Esai Morales calls “hispandering” any attempt to artificially woo the Hispanic community. Naturally, the co-star of “La Bamba” and the upcoming “Atlas Shrugged” sequel used the term to disparage Mitt Romney simply for mentioning he had family members born in Mexico.     Share on Facebook

• Paul Ryan and the Angry Catholic Left 
R.R. Reno, First Things - On the Square Capitalism  | Ryan was scheduled to talk at Georgetown, and the ever-reliable Fr. Thomas J. Reese, S.J., and others have organized a letter of protest. “Our problem with Representative Ryan,” Reese told reporters, “is that he claims his budget is based on Catholic social teaching. This is nonsense.” I’m afraid that “nonsense” applies more to the letter Reese helped write than the budget Ryan proposed. It accuses Ryan of “continuing misuse of Catholic teaching,” and snidely dismisses his budget proposal as reflecting “the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” [....] This is not a letter of protest but instead one of reprimand.     Share on Facebook

• In Lead-Up to May Day, Picket Lines Fill New York—And AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Stops By 
Sarah Jaffe, AlterNet Atlas Shrugged  | Back in January of last year, I reported on victories in union elections at two companies that produce popular nonfiction TV shows. Freelance producers at ITV Studios and Atlas Media voted to join the Writers Guild of America, East, proving that it was in fact possible to organize workers who aren’t classified as full-time employees. But over a year later, Atlas Media--yes, named after Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged--has refused to work out a contract with the union.     Share on Facebook

• • • Paul Ryan loves Ayn Rand—not 
Marvin Olasky, World Magazine Atheism  |Atlas Shrugged  |Capitalism  | The New York Times this morning has a surprisingly positive profile of GOP leader Paul Ryan. Meanwhile, NYT columnist Paul Krugman and New York magazine are scathing in their criticism. Among Christians a lot of confusion remains, in part because Ryan [...] has combined admirable budget analysis with troubling esteem for Christ-hating Ayn Rand. Happily, he has now clarified (or changed) his stance concerning Rand.     Share on Facebook

• Passion Pit passionately announce new album from the bottom of a bottomless pit 
Nobodaddy, Tiny Mix Tapes I think we all want to have dizzying sex with crazily-tattooed people and flip out at works of art that seem boring to our accountant friends and trash-talk Ayn Rand at parties and weep at Monsters Inc. from time to time.     Share on Facebook

• • • Did Paul Ryan really reject Ayn Rand? 
Jason Pye, United Liberty Atheism  |Atlas Shrugged  |The Fountainhead  |Capitalism  |Individualism  | There is little denying that Rand’s work has been influential, more recently so because of the Tea Party movement picking up on many of the themes in her work. Atlas Shrugged flew off the shelves after the financial crisis. However, I don’t think that Ryan was saying that he doesn’t agree with her economic beliefs and moral defense of capitalism. In fact, you can tell he has done his homework on Rand.     Share on Facebook

• • Reason.tv: Author David Brin on Dogmatic Libertarians, Transparency, and Uplifting Dolphins 
Tim Cavanaugh and Zach Weissmueller, Reason - Hit & Run Capitalism  |Video  | Brin sat down with Reason.tv’s Tim Cavanaugh to discuss his recent critiques of the libertarian movement, which he believes is being pushed in the wrong direction by dogmatic followers of Ayn Rand and Murray Rothbard.     Share on Facebook

• • • Shining City on a Hill 
Mike Lux, Huffington Post Capitalism  |Egoism  |Individualism  | My absolute favorite story of the week is Paul Ryan saying that his fondness for the philosophy of Ayn Rand is an “urban legend.” You have to give these wild and crazy Republicans credit for at least one thing: they have cojones the size of the elephants which are the mascots for the party. The urban myth quote came after a career of Ayn Rand idolatry special even for right-wing Republicans: giving the book to his interns, speaking at Ayn Rand tributes, doing videos about her, saying her philosophy inspired him to get involved in politics. This was no youthful fling, but a lifelong love affair -- until a couple of days ago, apparently.     Share on Facebook